Only he held the fork up to her mouth. “Eat.”

“I can do it.”

“Eat the food, Tamsyn,” he said firmly. “Don’t think. Don’t worry. Just eat.”

To her surprise, her lips parted, and he placed the food in her mouth.

Oh man.

That was yummy.

Every time her brain started to interfere, he would hold up a forkful of food and she’d just eat.

Without thinking.

Alexei started to talk to Salem about his workouts. And Roman interjected with his own thoughts. And it all felt so incredibly normal.

Even with someone else feeding her.

When she was full, she drew back, shaking her head.

Salem glanced down at the plate. Two-thirds of the food was gone, which was more than she thought she’d be able to eat. Was he going to try and force her to eat more?

To tell her that she’d done a terrible job?

She tried not to tense up. To not show her feelings. But it was difficult.

However, he just nodded and grabbed her napkin with one hand and her chin with the other. Then he dabbed gently at her face.

He was cleaning her up.

And she was letting him.

Who was she? What had happened to Tamsyn, the sneaky spy? Who was this girl in her place?

This girl who let someone carry her around, feed her, and wipe her face.

“You did well, Little one,” he told her.

“Thank you.” She felt ridiculously proud of herself. All she’d done was eat some dinner.

All it took was a bit of praise from these guys and she turned into putty.

It was terrible.

And amazing.

Because if anyone could help her turn off her worries and thoughts and learn to relax and just feel it would be them.

But if she let go of that stronghold she had on her emotions, she wasn’t sure what would happen.

Part of her wished that her training had been successful in turning her into a machine. Then she’d have no fear of anything.

To be fair it had been partially successful.

For so long she’d been closed off from all feeling and emotion. But at some stage, something had started to change.

She didn’t fear dying or physical pain.